I feel like I've always known how important clothes were, but until I started studying them at university, I didn't have the vocabulary to talk about it. Then, when I had the vocabulary, I found that not many people outside of my immediate group of peers wanted to talk about clothes. I remember clearly going... Continue Reading →
I've spent more years than I care to imagine working out how to love my reflection. It might sound strange to anyone who doesn't identify as a woman, or wasn't raised as female, but the constant stream of messages we receive about how our appearance is the most important thing about us takes a certain... Continue Reading →
It's that time of year again. When the days are at their shortest and the end of the year approaches, I like to share a list of the people who have had positive impact on my life in the previous 12 months and, in my opinion, deserve an award for their greatness. These are some... Continue Reading →
The number of more positive articles on fat bodies is finally starting to increase, in the wake of the popularity of 'plus size' (ugh I hate that term) models like Ashley Graham, Audrey Ritchie and Tess Holliday. It seems like culture (and capitalism) has finally accepted that we're getting bigger, and that there's a lot... Continue Reading →
Like a lot of young women in their teens and twenties, I grew up feeling very uncomfortable in my own body. By most "standards" I was too big - my thighs were too fat, my arms were too chubby and my boobs were definitely too enormous to be considered desirable. I was an early bloomer... Continue Reading →
It's been a while since I had a photoshoot. Back when my hobby was burlesque, I was in front of the camera quite a lot and was certainly no stranger to posing in my undies. I had a few studio shoots with my burlesque gang, had various photographers snap my performances, did a couple of... Continue Reading →
For a while, I didn't really 'get' Instagram. I've been addicted to Twitter since 2008 and it suits my propensity for sharing snippets of sarcasm rather well. It's a lot like my blog used to be, but with a much lower character limit. I've whined about every update they've made to how Twitter works but,... Continue Reading →
As someone who has squishy bits, I can't help but look at the models when I'm looking at photographs of clothing. When they are roughly the same shape as you, there's no real need to look at anything other the garments, as the way it fits them is probably going to be the way it... Continue Reading →
About eight years ago now, as a university graduate wet behind the years, I stumbled upon the burlesque scene in Scotland: a Ministry of Burlesque performance in Edinburgh, as it happened. From there, my long-term love of burlesque - and corsetry/costuming - was born. At the same time, I also found myself in the lucky... Continue Reading →
This time next week, I'll be 40 years old. Birthdays have a strange way of making you think about ageing and the passing of time, despite the fact that we are getting older every single minute of every day, and so I have been pondering what 'the big four-oh' means to me. Does it mean... Continue Reading →